Kelly Warfield | President, R&D
Sabin Vaccine Institute
Kelly Warfield, PhD, joined the Sabin Vaccine Institute as its President of Research & Development in August 2024. In this role, Kelly collaborates with executive team members, cross-functional leaders, and the Board of Trustees to drive Sabin’s strategic vision, manage and grow the R&D team and programs, and harmonize initiatives across departments to maximize impact. She also oversees the advancement of Sabin’s candidate vaccines, including those targeting Marburg and Sudan ebolavirus diseases. A seasoned scientific leader, Kelly brings extensive expertise and a passion for advancing health through innovative vaccine development. She has a strong track record in building diverse R&D portfolios across government, biotech startups, and mid-sized pharmaceutical companies, and excels at managing public-private partnerships. In her previous role as senior vice president for science & development at Emergent BioSolutions, she led a multi-national research and development team of more than 300 scientists, managing a diverse pipeline of development programs in discovery through life cycle management with annual budgets exceeding $100 million. Before joining Emergent BioSolutions in 2014, Kelly co-founded Integrated Biotherapeutics, Inc., where she led vaccine development efforts focusing on antivirals and vaccines for Ebola and Marburg viruses. Beyond her expertise in vaccine development, Kelly has a deep understanding of novel regulatory pathways, including the Animal Rule and accelerated approval processes. She has successfully navigated U.S. FDA and European Medicines Agency regulations for product approvals. Kelly began her scientific career as a student intern at the National Cancer Institute. She earned a Ph.D. in microbiology and virology from Baylor College of Medicine. As a postdoctoral fellow at the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, she developed vaccines and therapeutics for highly lethal filoviruses and received training to work in advanced biosafety (BSL-3 and BSL-4) containment laboratories. Kelly is the author of more than 100 publications and book chapters and holds more than 15 patents.
Appearances:
Pre-Congress Workshops - 21st April @ 10:00
BIODEFENSE
Protecting public health from biothreats to pandemics.
- What is the progress on new technologies in medical product development?
- How our governments are incentivizing (portfolio approach), especially with biotech and industry? What International collaborations are being facilitated?
10:10 – 10:50 Coupled lightening talks: ~10 minutes each
How our governments are incentivizing (portfolio approach), especially with biotech and industry?
10:55 – 11:50 Panel: Collaboration with industry: the solution for a sustainable posture for biodefence and global health security
11:50 – 12:50 Panel: Rapid vaccine development through manufacturing innovation
1:00 - 2:00 break
2:00 – 3:10 Panel: What are the remaining bottlenecks holding us back from achieving the 100 day mission?
3:10 – 4:10 Panel: International pandemic funding – how can we make it accessible globally?
4:10 – 5:00 Recap Panel: What are the drivers between different international governments and how can we harmonize these to strengthen our defense from global biothreats?
Pre-Congress Workshops - 21st April @ 14:00
GLOBAL HEALTH - PARASITIC & NTD VACCINES
2.10pm – 3.10pm Parasitic disease vaccine development short talks:
4x 15min presentations
2.10pm Hookworm anaemia and malaria combination vaccine development
Dr Peter Hotez, Co-Director, Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, Baylor College of Medicine
2.25pm Early development of a vaccine against visceral leishmaniasis * Title TBC
Dr Angamuthu Selvapandiyan, Professor, Department of Molecular Medicine, School of Interdisciplinary Studies and Technology, JAMIA HAMDARD
2.40pm Joint Presentation: A defined molecular vaccine for intestinal schistosomiasis * title TBC
Darrick Carter, CEO, PAI LifesciencesAfzal Siddiqui, Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Professor (Tenured), Departments of Internal Medicine and Immunology & Molecular Immunology, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
2.55pm Development of vaccines for lymphatic filariasis *Title TBC
Dr Ramaswamy Kalyanasundaram, Department Head, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Illinois College of Medicine
3.10pm Panel: Challenges in establishing correlates of protection and planning trials for NTD vaccines
· What are the difficulties in establishing COP for NTD vaccines
· Planning for ph2-3 trials – how can we innovate in creating pathways and designs?
Darrick Carter, CEO, PAI Lifesciences
Afzal Siddiqui, Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Professor (Tenured), Departments of Internal Medicine and Immunology & Molecular Immunology, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
Dr Ramaswamy Kalyanasundaram, Department Head, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Illinois College of Medicine
Michael, Senior Director, Principal Consultant DCS/BPE, Cencora
Additional panelists TBC
4.00pm Panel: Moving the needle: alternative pathways to approval for global health vaccines (Parasitic & Neglected Diseases)
· Considering pathways to approval in different scenarios – in-country experiences
o Enabling different technology pathways
o From a local manufacturing perspective
· Moving from science to deployment – other than strong data what do we need to move these vaccines forward?
o Understanding incentives for production, government incentives to buy, individual country policies and regulatory requirements
o How is this challenge further compounded with diseases that are not fatal but have high morbidity burden?
o Case studies – Marburg, Hookworm,
· Improving stringency of regulatory agencies through new frameworks
· Can combinations deal with the issue of high burden but low interest? What would be the complications of combining these types of vaccines?
Dr Maria Elena Bottazzi, Co-Director of Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, Baylor College of Medicine
Dr Kelly Warfield, President of Global Research, Sabin Vaccine Institute
Javier Guzman, Director of Global Health Policy and Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development
Petro Terblanche, Managing Director, Afrigen
Prof Tuck Seng Wong, Professor, Sheffield University; Director, UKSEA Vax Hub
Dr William Hausdorff, Public Health Value Proposition Lead, PATH
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